Seated upon the throne and posed in deep contemplation, the Kahn called Erron back into the room after Cassie had been allowed to depart; she hadn't said anything directly, but he had a good impression that the blonde would have a good few things to say to the other girl when they met to trade places. And when he said blonde, he really meant her fists. Perhaps he aught to have sent Reptile or Ermac to accompany the women after all, but it was their prerogative to settle their scrabbles between them, and in such a manner as they chose. Still though, odds were that the General wouldn't take very kindly to the news of her daughter's woes, and if indeed they were able to bring her back from the brink, something told the Osh-Tekk that Evren wouldn't be particularly happy with him either. He could almost hear her voice as she chided him, 'I don't care if you're the emperor and have to set an example, that girl was your daughter once! Things may have changed, but Hitomi and Zyanyo will always be your children.'
"Emperor." Ever a man of so many words, by way of greeting the outlaw inclined his head just enough so that his eyes were lost behind the brim of his hat. Mayhap it was prudence or respect that drove the announcement of his arrival from the back, but whichever it was, the war god accepted with an idle wave of the hand. A smart enough man to read the signs, the cowboy had little trouble in surmising the cause of these summons; Erron was gracious enough to never mention it, for which the Kahn had been monetarily grateful when such instances had previously occurred, but the truth was that they had more in common than one might have guessed. If his presence had been requested, it only could have been for one thing. "Hell of a reunion on our hands."
Ko'atal never cared much to recall that they had a common past that bonded them, Or rather complex ties to the same she-devil, attachments that were too deep to completely sever, however just this once it may have been to their benefit to bring it to light. It was not strictly orthodox for the Osh-Tekk to admit in these kind of personal matters, but the truth was that even an Emperor needed assistance. That may have sounded strange given the advisers he put so much faith into, at least prior to D'Vorah's betrayal, but there was a difference between matters of guiding the entire realm and, as Cassandra might have put it, 'tip-toeing over thin ice'.
Debating for a moment if he should raise for this audience or remain seated, Outworld's monarch chose to linger in the throne he and his followers - again, he could feel the slow-healing sting of the Kytinn's actions - had fought so hard to obtain, keeping it his prerogative to change his mind later if he so wished. The more problematic deliberation, however, came in the form of whether or not he should bring Emren into this conversation, and if so, how to tread - Erron may have remained loyal for the money, and perhaps even in some small way, the cowboy had developed a genuine interest after all the time they worked together, but there was no question as to where his daughter stacked in terms of priority.
"Yes, that is as good a way to surmise the situation as any other I suppose." Treading cautiously up to the edge of that frozen lake, Kotal took his first tentative step. "I believe that we can assume Emren has heard the news that her half-sister was taken in for questioning and is currently on her way for a visit? I was under the impression that the girls were always fairly close, or is bond that a new development?" Honestly that was less playing coy and more the smudge of time passing for a being that was simply so old that time mattered less and less in most regards.
Sensing not quite a trap, Erron felt as if he knew where the Emperor was trying to steer the conversation. Sure, he could have just told his employer that no matter what he had told her growing up about why her mother wasn't there, Emren had resented the woman for abandoning them. Hard as it was at times to juggle work and parenting, the sharp-shooter knew how much the succubus loathed herself for stepping out of the picture. It was also true that he also could have gone into how the first-born had taken the news that she was going to be a big sister, that the girl had lit up like the flashiest Fourth of July fireworks Earthrealm had, at least at first, but when she learned that their mother had intended to keep this one herself... Well, let's just say that he had found a treasure trove of evidence that would have made a shrink's day and the law's worst nightmare.
Frankly there was a lot that Erron could have said to that, but he chose to keep it clean. "It's fairly new."
Not that the Kahn was expecting any different from the gunman - after the wounds that traitor had inflicted, a large part of the Osh-Tekk was relieved that the mercenary had remained unchanged, prickly as he was wont to be - yet apparently this would not be a simple as he might have dared to hope. "Is that so? Hmm," Ko'atal reflected, perhaps I am not the only one still suffering due to that demoness; thinking of the distance of her son and coupling it with this revelation, was it possible that both of the cryomancers and the girl could share in the woe as well? Perhaps this sudden illness of her's was years of contrition and pain, the force of Karma at work at long last. "I do not know if you know this already, but Emren came to me not that long ago for a consultation. She noted how serious it must have been if a certain Shirai Ryu had been recalled home, how dire the circumstances had to be if they had indeed sought a team to come here for the ingredients. She asked me personally not as an emperor but as a man that had known Evren once if I thought that this was going to be her end." Erron was stoic, not moving so much as a muscle at the implication that the hellion might truly die. To Kotal, that stillness spoke a fair deal of what the outlaw might have been thinking. "I told her the truth, that the elixir they intend to make her is usually a desperate last attempt, that while it was possible to brew, its effects were more fable and legend."
Not sure if he should be cross at the Emperor for being so blunt in a delicate situation or if he should be grateful that the man was honest with a hard truth, Erron wasn't positive what he felt. Naturally the cowboy had kept an ear out for any sort of news about the mother of his daughter, so he had discovered sooner than later that Evren's health had taken a grim turn, that she had taken to bed, but he knew the woman to be a stronger sort of female, so her mystery ailment seemed a hoax at best, a short-term issue at worst. And then Hasashi himself had ordered his daughter to return to the temple they inhabited. To him, that was the first nail in the coffin. Then discovering that they wanted to chance making that potion... I didn't want to think it was true.
Neither accusing nor brimming over with a sense of relief that he had been spared a terrible talk, the words did make the Emperor's point emerge at last, "You told Emren that her mother was as good as gone." So at least now that explained why the Kahn was dragging his heels in greeting the kids and entertaining this farce of a mission, because he was convinced that it was a fool's errand, that Evren was past the point of knocking on death's door, that she was virtually invited into the parlor for tea and was just stating to make herself at home. "We both know that Evren's a tough one." But then again, was it really the succubus's fate that had the Osh-Tekk concerned, or was it something else?
As much as he would have liked it to have been something else, it was the demoness's life that had Kotal Kahn on the edge of his seat, so to speak. "There were few who could match our unit when we served together," despite the way those glowing orbs seared, there was no mistaking the fond memory of carnage behind them, "so it is not her prowess in body that has me anxious." Ko'atal did not want to speak it aloud, but it was her emotional stability and mental endurance that troubled him, and that wasn't even including the truly traumatic experiences they shared as man and wife - before they realized how... compatible... they were, the impling had been interested in another of their peers.
Maybe it was something about guys with dark hair and ponytails, but she had initially been drawn to the Edenian, Rain. Good as friends as they were at the time, Ko'atal was just contented that it wasn't Reiko that had her eye. At any rate, the demi-God had spurned her advances - a feat that, where it not born from such an inflated sense of self, it might have been admirable - proving himself to be so vain and in no need of a 'lowly orphan without a home and a future' that he was immune to the charms of the succubus. Evren had taken that rejection rather hard, the Kahn recalled with a suggestive smirk, several times that night. The torrid details of the tryst aside, she really didn't cope well at the time with the dismissal, nor was she much better at it when the twins had brought them back together. Not caring to count the tears, when he closed his his eyes, he could still see her laying on her half of the room behind a gossamer veil, the sounds of her misery captured in his mind just as sharply as the sounds of her wresting her own one-handed pleasures, all of it for just one man.
Refusing to think of that, the Emperor shook the past away and focused instead on the subject before him, "Be thankful Erron, that your courtship was so fleeting that you never had to experience what it is to lose a child with her." The miscarriages were bad enough, but there was no pain close that could ever rival what it was to have your own son dead in your arms. It still haunted the Osh-Tekk, even to this day.
Quiet as he was deadly, Erron Black gazed up at the other man from his high seat, only four words on his lips, "You think so, Emperor?"
A/N:
And again another example of needing mindsoap, lol. Seriously though 1 Guest Pair, what's with the question mark after awkward? Of course I read the review! I always check the reviews (when I'm obsessively focused on one story). I have to say, that last chapter really is a perfect example of how people can see one event (or whichever) in different lights than one another. Like I said before, I really have no idea how I missed how mean that was. Timing can be a pain, I get that.
KynthiaOlympia, I will always thank a review when it comes! Maybe I'll sing a different tune for when it's a negative remark, but until then I am full of gratitude, to you, and to all of the other reviewers!
I know that this first review actually came from the previous chapter, but since that's already been posted I'm addressing it here. Someone, that's a really good point to decide to not like a character. Honestly, as hard as it is, I've accepted that Hitomi is an unliked character, but to hear at this point that anyone can find her to be neutral in their books means a lot to me. And for the latest chapter, yeah, Zyan's pretty great. Little bit, yeah.
Whichever way you meant, I'll take it celticank ^^
Acknowledgments aside, I must confess that this is me taking more liberties with the timeline. I think I read/heard somewhere that Rain served in Shao Kahn's army, but I have no clue if he ever worked alongside Reiko and Kotal. Reading the comic I'd say that the three clearly did work together whilst serving Mileena, but I'm talking way way before she was ever cooked up. Honestly I'm not really sure what to make of Rain, but I do kinda like him (seriously, there are only of MK characters that I don't like in some fashion or other), so none of that was meant to be slander. I just wanted to show that A), not everyone Evren meets is into her (example one and a half being Sub-Zero), and B), it is possible to resist a full-fledged pure-blood succubus!
Man, I really have no idea what to title this chapter! I liked E4, but Common Ground sounds a hell of a lot better I think.